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10K Independents Week: How to Build a Salesforce Business You Love With Wendy Murry

It’s Independents Week at 10K Advisors! We’re celebrating the 10K Expert Community and our mission to give people the freedom to do the work they love. Stay tuned to our blog for Q&As with some of our brightest independent experts as we explore what it takes to build a business, how to overcome doubt, and advice for other Salesforce experts with an entrepreneurial spirit. You can follow the conversation every day this week at #10KIndependentsWeek.

Wendy Murry | Murry Consulting

Q: Can you tell us a bit about your business?

A: Murry Consulting is a project management consulting company focused on helping businesses of all sizes in leading strategic projects and transformations within their organization. 

Since I started working in the ecosystem, I’ve realized many organizations spread their project managers too thin across projects or don’t have project managers in-house, so I focus on serving as an extension of the company’s leadership team to help manage their initiatives. My focus is on partnering with clients to understand their goals and guide them during the project journey while managing developers and other consultants. 

Murry Consulting was established in 2017 when I partnered with a company moving from an Association Management tool to Salesforce Sales Cloud, Community Cloud, Pardot, and numerous AppExchange products. The transition was a major undertaking – this company literally put their entire business on Salesforce products! Managing the transition required detailed and methodical project management, especially because the company also contracted with two technical implementation partners. There were many stakeholders I needed to keep informed, solicit decisions from, and keep on schedule. 

Q: How long were you working in the ecosystem before you determined the mission and goal of your business?

A: I’ve been in the ecosystem as a Project Manager and/or user since 2009. It was early on in my Project Manager journey that I had the opportunity to lead several projects with custom development that extended the Salesforce platform to meet the specific needs of my then employer. I was later a user of Service Cloud through my role supporting a large organization’s customer support team.

Q: What was your first “ah-ha!” moment before taking the first step to start your business?

A: I was talking to a colleague about starting a Project Management consulting business. She turned and asked me, “Wendy, how long have you been thinking about opening your own business. What is stopping you?” 

I realized I was the only person stopping myself from branching out on my own. I was afraid of failing. This same colleague made the initial referral to my first customer, too! When she made the introduction, I jumped in with both feet and haven’t looked back on the decision. It was the right decision at the right time and she helped me to get into the right mindset.

Q: Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

A: My first year in business I would have tried to diversify my client base instead of focusing 100% on one client. I had one primary client that consumed the majority of my time. In hindsight, diversification would have helped me to grow my customer base and provide opportunities once my first project was completed.

Q: Can you offer any words of wisdom for Salesforce experts looking to start their own business?

A: For anyone nervous about being on their own, ask yourself “What if?” multiple times. What is the worst that can happen if I fail, then what? What if I can’t meet my financial obligations, then what? 

If you can work through all of your “What if?” fears and in the end, live with them, you don’t have anything to fear in starting your own business. Even better, what if you are wildly successful?

Also, hire a team of professionals to support you – lawyer, accountant, insurance agent, etc. to set up a real business entity. I have found this team critical to helping me set up my business and rely on them to protect my investment in my business and myself.

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